Are you a rebel at heart or someone who might be considered a little uptight? Maybe you want to learn to cut loose a little and spice up your story? Or maybe you just want to know a little more about what the rules are and when to break them?Then Rules to Break to Make Your Picture Book is for you!

You see, there are all these picture book rules, rules that we teach at the Academy (with the caveat that there are always exceptions) and that you can find all over the Internet. Rules that agents and editors talk about and write about. And yet at the same time, editors and agents are also always looking for new and fresh picture books. Come learn the rules in this fun-filled and highly informative workshop/webinar so that you can twist and turn and break them to create innovative picture books.

If you've ever taken a Children's Book Academy course, you'll know that we pride ourselves on promising much and delivering more. This rare workshop/webinar does exactly that!!!

You will:

Be empowered by learning over 50 picture book rules that you can break to make your picture book extra juicy

Learn about a whole bunch of rule-breaking books and why they got published

Receive super helpful keep forever handouts and worksheets including one that is the number 1 most helpful thing you can do to build your skills and knowledge base

Get to watch the recordings as much as you like for at least a year

Get a taste of just some of what we do at the Children’s Book Academy

About Your Fearless Leaders

Miranda Paul: In addition to writing more than 50 short stories for magazines and digital markets, Miranda is the picture book author of many award-winning titles: One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia (Lerner/Millbrook, 2015); Water is Water (Macmillan/Roaring Brook/Neal Porter Books, 2015); 10 Little Ninjas (Penguin Random House/Knopf, 2016) and Helping Hands (Lerner/Millbrook, 2016). She is also a team member of We Need Diverse Books™ and the administrator of RateYourStory.org, a site for aspiring writers. Learn more at www.mirandapaul.com

Ariel Richardson is a fearless editor at Chronicle Books, one of the most innovative rule breaking publishing houses out there. She will be doing a show and tell about some of their books and why they were accepted from the vast numbers of submissions that they receive.

Mira Reisberghas worked in the children's book industry since early 1988. She has helped MANY authors and illustrators get published. Mira has worked as an editor, an art director, a literary agent, and a university children's literature professor. She holds a PhD in Education and Cultural Studies with a focus on children's literature and is also an award-winning children's book illustrator and writer.

Here are a few testimonials

Mira hit it out of the park with her recent Rule Breaking picture book webinar. Clear, concise and rife with details that every picture book writer wants to know; I feel empowered again in my quest for publication. I highly recommend this webinar. ~ Beth Halleran

The workshop content was definitely worth the price, in both time and money! All presenters were well prepared, and offered excellent information. All questions I'd had about particular "rules" and how/when to break them were answered during the presentations, and I now feel much more confident about preparing my children's manuscripts for submission. Hope there will be more workshops like this! ~ Kate Hinke

Wow...what an education! The "Rules to Break and Make Your Picture Book" webinar is a backstage pass into the world of picture-book writing. If you want to hit the helpful-hints jackpot, sign up! Mira, Miranda, and Ariel have loads of relevant info to share--about writing do's and don't, and about the current publishing industry. In a single three-hour session, they'll expand your understanding of how to respect the form and function of the picture book. Better yet, they'll tell you how to gracefully bend the rules at those critical junctures where going outside the box enhances the reader's experience and makes for a stand-out book. This online seminar is well worth the very affordable cost of admission. It's informative, convenient, and eye-opening. I can't think of anyone else who's offering this kind of peek behind the scenes to help aspiring writers craft stories with heart and creative spark. The "Rule Breaking" seminar will help you take your writing to the next level. ~ Heather Kinser

In the Picture Book Rule Breaking Webinar, they offered a fresh take on the rules of the road for picture book writing, some I already knew, but most I didn't know (even with my Certificate in Children's Writing). I would attend another picture book webinar if offered in the future. Great work ladies! ~ Shannon Strand

In the Picture Book Rule Breaking Webinar, they offered a fresh take on the rules of the road for picture book writing, some I already knew, but most I didn't know (even with my Certificate in Children's Writing). I would attend another picture book webinar if offered in the future. Great work ladies! ~ Shannon Strand

I have been frustrated by the writing rules for some time now. This workshop really helped clarify why some of the rules are there and which ones you can break. There were plenty of excellent examples of rule breaking books and fun exercises too. ~ Linda Schueler

The "Rules" workshop was the most friendly, informative, example packed three hours I could have spent! Sometimes, as a newbie aspiring writer, I find all the rules a bit daunting. I have been discovering them in rumors and drifts. Here they all were in one place, clearly defined, and even debunked with examples. I am so much better informed now to look through a precise lens at my own writing, and the mentor texts of other writers I love. Now I can write with more freedom and purpose, knowing clearly what the rules are, why they came to be, and why a writer might choose to break them...and get away with it!~ Julie Burchstead